Gujarat Congress demands live telecast of Assembly proceedings

The opposition Congress in Gujarat on Monday demanded that proceedings of the Legislative Assembly be telecast live. In his letter to Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Paresh Dhanani said such a move would make elected representatives more serious towards people's problems.

"If states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand can permit live telecast of the Assembly proceedings, then there should not be any problems in starting the same practice in Gujarat, which is the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel," Dhanani wrote in his letter.

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A three-day session of the state Legislative Assembly ended on December 11. On the last day of the sitting, Congress MLAs had staged a walkout twice over the issues of compensation to farmers and on a bill proposing a separate Authority for development of tourism near the Statue of Unity in Narmada district. Recalling past, Dhanani stated that cameramen of private TV channels were once allowed to record and broadcast the proceedings of the House, but that system was discarded.

"Now, recording has been barred inside the House. A TV programme aired by the government on daily proceedings is an edited version. Though former BJP minister and Speaker (late) Ashok Bhatt had supported the proposal for allowing live telecast nothing happened till now," he stated.

The Amreli MLA said it's the right of the common people to watch how effectively their elected representatives raise issues concerning them on the floor of the House. "If live telecast is allowed, they (MLAs) will become more serious about their role. It will also raise the standard of debates in the House," Dhanani said.

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